01.04.2011 Mary and I have been looking forward to the BVI with great expectations! Yet the closer we got to being here, the more the Doom Sayers had to say about the overcrowding, the Bareboat charters, limited anchoring choices, expensive mooring buoys, and prices in general! So we left Anguila at 5pm for the 80mile overnight sail to Virgin Gorda, with mixed feelings…. Would it be a highlight of our cruising, or a bit of a disappointment? The trip up was a dead downwind, rolly motor sail with only 10knots of breeze…..just enough to keep the diesel fumes in the cockpit all night! Not Mary’s best! We arrived at Round Rock at first light, and headed up to Spanish Town to check in. Contrary to what we had been led to believe, anchoring was easy and available, and we dinghied over to the Yacht club and walked over to Customs and Immigration. The paperwork was a bit more extensive than usual, (and a lot more tedious than either the French, or Eseaclear signatory islands), but not too bad. The cruising permit for the two of us for 4 weeks was $17.50, which was also a lot less than we had been led to believe. After checking in, we headed up the Fat Virgin coastline to the North Sound, making our way through the well marked channel, into this protected stretch of water. We were too tired to spot any virgins, (rumour has it that there aren’t any), but we did find a very nice anchorage off Vixen point. There are buoys at $30 per night, but there is still plenty of room to swing off your own hook, which we chose to do. (must drop the hook in sand……anchoring on coral is prohibited) The next day we watched a huge fleet of racing yachts(+/- 100) fighting to the finish line, inside the Sound. We chilled, rested and swam in the crystal clear waters, taking the opportunity to dive and clean off the last of the weed and barnacles that we acquired in St Martin. Later we watched the start of the next leg of the race…. A downwind start under kites and bags, led by 
Richard Branson in his150ft + catamaran “Necker Belle”. He organizes a number of BVI racing events. It was quite a spectacle! The big man himself arrived by seaplane, landing somehow amongst this field of yachts, 30minutes before the race got underway. Recognize the Cat at anchor in the foreground? Yes, Klaus and Beryl , on “Ti Bay”, are en route to the Bahamas, and we have spent good times together, whenever we have met up along the way since Grenada. We all went the Bitter End Yacht Club for sundowners and a light meal that evening.
When we returned to the yachts at 
Vixen Point, we found Sheer Tenacity surrounded by huge (3ft to 5ft) Tarpon, swirling around, hunting down jacks attracted by the cockpit lights. At first I thought they were sharks, with their bright orange eyes, but their profiles and silver shining bodies soon revealed their ID! Earlier in the day, we had been watching big Green Turtles surfacing around the boat. So although the fishing on the route up had been quiet, the sea life seems alive and well here! On 
Friday we left the Sound, and anchored between Prickly Pear Island and Eustatia, alongside a snorkeling reef. The islands themselves appear quite scrubby, reminiscent of Pilanesberg by the sea, but he beaches are white, and the water a beautiful clear turquoise! Yes, we like our first look at the Virgins, and look forward to using up our full 4 week permit, as we explore the islands and anchorages that we have dreamed about for years.
Richard Branson in his150ft + catamaran “Necker Belle”. He organizes a number of BVI racing events. It was quite a spectacle! The big man himself arrived by seaplane, landing somehow amongst this field of yachts, 30minutes before the race got underway. Recognize the Cat at anchor in the foreground? Yes, Klaus and Beryl , on “Ti Bay”, are en route to the Bahamas, and we have spent good times together, whenever we have met up along the way since Grenada. We all went the Bitter End Yacht Club for sundowners and a light meal that evening.
When we returned to the yachts at 
Vixen Point, we found Sheer Tenacity surrounded by huge (3ft to 5ft) Tarpon, swirling around, hunting down jacks attracted by the cockpit lights. At first I thought they were sharks, with their bright orange eyes, but their profiles and silver shining bodies soon revealed their ID! Earlier in the day, we had been watching big Green Turtles surfacing around the boat. So although the fishing on the route up had been quiet, the sea life seems alive and well here! On 
Friday we left the Sound, and anchored between Prickly Pear Island and Eustatia, alongside a snorkeling reef. The islands themselves appear quite scrubby, reminiscent of Pilanesberg by the sea, but he beaches are white, and the water a beautiful clear turquoise! Yes, we like our first look at the Virgins, and look forward to using up our full 4 week permit, as we explore the islands and anchorages that we have dreamed about for years. 
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